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A rather curious hybrid, John Shackleton’s Brighton-based The Sleeping Room is part psychological horror, part ghost story. It tells of Blue (Leila Mimmack), a young call-girl with a troubled past who strikes up an unlikely, and forbidden friendship with one of her clients, a young man restoring an old house by the seafront.

When she inadvertently discovers she has ties to the old house, which used to be a brothel, and a possible shared history with its devious and debauched tenants, she desperately attempts to reconcile herself with a dark family secret.

With its admittedly ludicrous plot concerning the bloody exploits of a serial killer whose rampage is triggered when he hears disco music, Discopath unspools as a soiled love letter to grindhouse exploitation shockers such as Maniac, The New York Ripper, Pieces and Don’t Go in the House.

With its retro-sleaze appeal, trashy aesthetic, low budget charm, practical FX and vintage-sounding synth score, it perfectly emulates the creepy, gritty atmospheres of those psycho-on-the-loose flicks of yore, while also echoing exuberantly violent Eurohorrors such as the Italian giallo.

James is the author of 'Dario Argento' (Kamera Books) and 'The Company of Wolves' (Devil’s Advocates). He contributes to Exquisite Terror and Diabolique, and has also written for Paracinema, Film Ireland, Eye for Film, Little White Lies and The Quietus.